Saturday, April 17, 2004
FAT TALK.
It has been calculated by someone who does such things that there will be twenty million purple shopping at Wal-Mart today. That would be pretty close to the number of people who will be , at some time during this day , also be talking about being:”fat”..
.
Not that there is any real connection between the the two facts unless you are one of the millions among that group who cannot stay away from the confectioner's counter in the food departments.. If the store in your community is anything like those in our area, there is plenty of walking to be done and that should help in weight gain problems.
That seems to be the number one subject for talk these days. It is heard throughout the firmament in various languages an d lingoes, too. The prattle of the bulge is a cacophony of complaints, cautions and contrasting claims which reverberates throughout the firmament as a continuous subject of conversations. I'd even go so far as to claim it it is more prevalent than Andy Griffith re-runs.
The usual tactic is for the fat focused individual to assume a posture which lets him or her appear to be a eviction of the conscious acts of others, or the opposing extreme , in which he or she accepts full, personal blame for caloric excess and stand forth as being a martyr to the cause.
I sometime have thought there is a danger that fat talk is becoming a language unto it's own, spoken by people who are fat, people who think they are fat compared to some idiotic standard, people who are going to be fat if they continue their present rate of gastronomic input. Left uncurbed, it could become a dominant language of world cultures.
There is certainly enough free or compensated advice floating around in print, on the radio, the TV channels, on Internet pages and in every other branch or facet of the media serving us so well with information to show quite plainly that excessive in take results in ponderous outgrowth. It's the old “in-out” idea as applied to computers years ago. How the physical extension of our body structures comes about depends solely on the quality and quantity of the supplies we provide
While we are on the subject with so many people, how's your weight coming along? I lost five whole,pounds last month.
A.L.M. April 16, 2004 [c412wds]
Friday, April 16, 2004
ADVENTURE TO BE
There is one thing I have never had a clear opportunity to enjoy and the idea has been nibbling away at the edge of my mind all morning.
I have never consumed a lobster in proper style. I have enjoyed parts and pieces of lobster, of course, on platter's with fish-finder names but I've never hooked on to enough courage to order a whole one and some guidance about the p;roper use of the tongs, hammers and the other tools that go with the proper consumption of the edible portions of such a sterling treat from the sea.
The bits and pieces I have met with on the “Fisherman's Platter” or “Seafarers Delight”have held promise of enjoyment and I have to confess that it has been the the matter of the proper style of doing it all correctly, which has stopped me. I have long viewed such a gastronomical event as being the ultimate in enjoyment but that the need to do it properly was important, too.
I confess that I do not know the proper etiquette for doing away with a whole lobster. If and when I ever get to visit the State of Maine - it has always been Maine where they eat lobster the way it should eaten and still be socially acceptable. There are ways to go about using those mallets, tongs and tweezers properly but the style books don't spell it out for me i everyday landlubber's lingo. I do not wish to resemble Henry VIII working on a leg of beef in some of the older historic films. I'd like to be able to think that it was all even more worth doing because it was done in proper style and with class morsel upon morsel
I remember so well, eating Blue Crab from Chesapeake Bay, at the home of Buzz and Virgina Conway, Indian River Inlet near Warnock's, Virginia. Hat was a real treat unequaled by any fine restaurant more than I though possible. I feel that has fully qualified me to take on any Maine lobster in its entirety when and if, that special occasion ever comes about.,
In these days of so many television shows dueling with what they call “reality” maybe I had best modify my plans and visit the local “Red Lobster” restaurant. Maybe I could get a private room, or , at least , a curtained area, and sort of ad-lib a lobster ceremony for whatever time it takes to do so and still retain my dream of what a perfect lobster dinner could be.
I'd settle for that, Dream things seldom work out too well, anyway..
A.L.M. April 14, 2004 [c505wds]
Thursday, April 15, 2004
WHO SAID WHAT
To whom, exactly, are people referring when they credit statements they are about to make to some vague “authority”.-”They say...?
At times, such usage seems to be outdoing the endemic ”y';know” or “See what I mean? questione we hear so often.
It seems to be an effort to lend authority to what they are about to say so you will not feel they are just concocting the idea at that moment out of whole cloth. Just what,.who or where this authority called :'They”:might happen to be is never revealed. That, I suppose, could be seen as adding a mystery to the message making it seem that one has searched all over the known world for the right words. The use of the expression tells the listener that the speaker is not quit sure of what is going to be said and wishes to under gird it with this,r sort of authority right at the start.
The concept is softened a bit when people quote entire groups of people.. They will start a sentence with: “The authorities all agree,”or ,perhaps “most Doctors think”. If the subject is political they will say :the “founding fathers believed”. This usage is met with in TV commercials at the turn of any dial: “Leading hospitals, doctors and nurses agree that our pill is not just better, but the very best any pill can ever be! They,.in turn, of course, are, quoting radio which voiced the idea a million or so times, having lifted it from print media which, itself, was quoting the old traveling medicine man as he urged people to accept blessings of his fine, natural elixir tom conquered whatever they thought plagued them at the time.
The entire home medical care system seems to have been founded on the “they say” principle.. “The old folks told us...” ”Your mother, great,- grand and great-greats and, so on back along the shady paths of history all said it.
It is also the very foundation of gossip, both the “over the back fence” variety and the segment of journalism which sells the same stuff so well these days. in print, on TV and on the Internet. It is becoming more and more difficult for us to tell legit copy from gossip, because the receiving end - readers and hearers – have become much more tolerant and seem to have reached a point where they accept good and un good; truth and falsehood, news and gossip, on equal terms. It is all set before them by TV's talking heads and every word is widely quoted and mis-quoted as “they say” material.
A.L.M. April 13 , 2004 [c451wds]-
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
WHAT WE WANT
Some would-be home buyers seem to think their new house will have to have all the comforts and conveniences of their family car.
Regard of where the vacant house is located they make quite a chunk of conversation pointing out how nice it would be if it were located somewhere else,. It is never in the right place. They run on at great length intending to show the reactor showing the place how they would buy it right away if it were located in half-a-dozen “better neighborhoods.”
After all they are driving an automobile which is priced a good notch and half or so over their actual income level. The want a 220K house settled amid a cluster of 600K homes.
Their car has ever thus-far-known, gadget to it until it has become useful to other ways than transportation. The item which used to be called “A cigarette lighter”is now marketed as “an appliance outlet.” Electric razors, baby bottle warmers, and various other electrical gizmo's and games can be used to enhance travel. They are considering adding TV in the back seat area. These people want their new house to be filled with every gadget imaginable and they plan it all in detail when looking at the empty rooms. They always need more outlets to be added to walls and woodwork. If their car has it, then the new house must have it as well - or better.
Financing the cost of the new home becomes a dramatic sequence set apart because the buyer of this types is devoted to a type of TV commercial which screams at him in sweeping, general terms:. “Everybody! If you have job and $88 – this car is yours!”Or, “Buy today! No payments due until one full year from this date! (Interest,Yes,..but Payments,No.) Or, if he buys right away, he becomes eligible either from the cash refund or the family can go on a full week's vacation to Disney world - all expenses paid. If car dealers can do it, and stay alive, so can the real estate seller.
This type of looker-buyer isn't too numerous right now, but they seem to be growing in number. Realtors are wise to their little act, however and can cope with it up to a point when exasperation takes over. It might be comforting to all such besieged agents to remember that ,somewhere, a funeral director exists who is selling pre-death interment plans.
A.L.M. April 13 2004 [c426wds]
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
TOO SOON
We need about two more years in Iraq of continued military presence in Iraq instead of two months.
We are obligated to leave the new governing council with a secure awareness of what continuing steps it must try to implement to establish a viable government after forty years of dictatorship rule. It is not something which takes place automatically even while the conflict is either ending or has been side-tracked into tangent political areas. We should know from previous ventures of this type that it takes years to do that job rather than months.
The planned intent, I think, was for the United State to maintain military presence in the country “as long as was necessary.” That concept has wavered from the start because of pressure from divergent religious to a degree, and also - even more apparent political pressures here in the United States. I have a feeling the Bush Administration would rather “stay the course” and assure a completion of the present plans to had over a strong, unified government to the Iraqi Governing Council they can use to rule their new nation effectively. Political opposition here at home has become stronger in vaguely articulated demands that we get out of Iraq at once. If John Kerry supporters continue to insist on withdrawal from Iraq in the hope that resulting the hope that resulting Iraqi might occur within the six months or so of election time remaining to give Bush a black eye on his Iraqi venture.
That sort of thinking, paired with a growing attempt to make the situation in Iraq to be “another Viet Nam” are a very real obstacle in the Bush path to re-election.
This anti-war emphasis may well grow and become dominant in the Kerry ranks based on his anti-war participation in anti-war protesting groups when he came home from a four months tour in the Mekong Delta area. Becoming anti-war oriented in the final days of the campaign could have a marked influence of the religious right voters.
The known facts about his known anti-war pretest marches and campaigns will become campaign fodder and it might well be used against him. If a faltering Bush can be presented as not being able to contain the Iraqi eruptions at all, and made out as being “a warmonger,” a great number of peace ctivists will be attracted to Kerry - Peacemaker for the future.
A.L.M. April 12, 2004 [c422wds]
Monday, April 12, 2004
STRIKE IOR HIT?
One of the most tense moments anyone can meet with is to be found in the rather calm game of baseball.
You are at bat and the ball is. at that very moment. In flight from the pitcher's hand to an area more or less above the home plate. It is moving toward you are as much as ninety some miles per hour and you are watching it intently. Will it continue straight? Or, will it drop just a few inches near the end of its flight? Maybe it will curve slightly away from you or in toward you - nearer to you and you must judge when it is at the exact point before you can activate the bat swinging eagerly above our shoulder. In a fraction of a second you must evaluate its position, decide what it is might do, and signal that portion of your brain which tells arm and shoulder muscles when to start the decent of the bat so that the ash wood bat and the baseball cover collide – each in transit – and you hear the firm, full sound of it all and know you have made a hit.
Tn that same second, the focus changes and you must estimate the ball's path. Is it low? Is it high – a pop up into the very hand of the fielder standing there awaiting its arrival? It could be an ankle-buster, a bounder, or even crazy skidder, a roller or a foul ball. Then, there is always that chance that it could be a homer far up in the stands. Having decide which it is, one runs for first... fast.
And all of this quick thinking is called for again and again in baseball. It is not a one time action and it happens each and every time any member of the team comes to bat; not to a few specialized individuals in one repetitive position. It happens every time a player comes to bat at least three times
This is i one reason I have long hoped that baseball would become better established in our high schools for both girls and boys. To me this is the quality which makes baseball a favorite training sport. In addition to good, healthful muscular movements, it teaches a person to think fast, with accuracy and attention to minute details or one suffers the consequences.
The next time you have the opportunity to watch a baseball game on TV , purposely try to let your brain go along with that of the players in this situation at bat. Compete with them if you can keep up such a pace of detailed concentration. You will find to be demanding.
Support local baseball among young people in your area, Give them a chance to become quick-thinkers while playing a game,
A.L.M. April 11, 2004 [c472wds]
Sunday, April 11, 2004
MY PRESIDENT
During all the years of my voting life I have felt that when the people of the United States chose to place one specific man in the Oval Office,that,in addition to being President of the nation -"ours" you might say, he also – with just one exeption - became "my" president, as well.
My parents set me straight on that point many years ago, stating that after the fire and brimstone breathings of election months were over the man chosen became president of all of us - not just those of his own party. The man deserved a fair chance at doing a good job and he needed public support. One supported him in what he tried to do. One accords that man a certain amount of freedom, to show us what he could accomplish. If however, he falters,and consistently fails to do well, you, then, had a moral obligation to set about putting things right, eventually, by withdrawing your active support and preparing for the next election. Even at that point of departure, the man is still due recognition for holding the title he does.
It was not difficult to think of the nation's president as both as ours as well president of others. The intensity of such feeling varied a great deal in my case.'
I was a bit too young to get involved with Woodrow Wilson and or Waring G. Harding. I think positive thoughts concerning those two came with my reading of history of the World War I era. Wilson, being from my home state, would naturally be a favorite, but I do remember, some disturbing feelings as a kid concerning Harding being involved in the Teapot Dome Scandals, which I did not understand and still don't.
Herbert Hoover was, beyond all doubt, was the most vilified individul of them all. I fell sorry fo the man every time he was blamed for yet another woe. He was vey much "mine". We admired him for his engineeering background – non political - and as a leader in helping to send relief to the needy peole of Europe after World War I.
Calvin Cooigde was my presidentlargely because of his his folksy New Englander ways,I think. He seemed natural and easy to accept. Other .,not necesarilyin order,by theay – it me in a vbrious ways. FDR I came to like because I felt he had remarkable contorol of things during wartime.I admired Harry Truman because he realized he was not another FDR and wisely delegated power to others, and, unfortunatelyh, not alway making good choices. He was spunky ,too. He was mine ,for sure. Eisenhower was my former General just as FDR had been my Commander if Chief - so I went along with both of them.
JFK gave me some problems at first largely because of the Nixon trouble before him i which he played a role. I liked Richard Nixon until his inherent weaknesses began to manifest thmselves and make us vulnerable.I liked Johnson very much as a shrew organizer and ex-Senate whip who could move thing about with a few phone calls to the right people. Both he an JFK lost me to a degree with their repeated womanizing. The Viet Nam situation and the Bay of Pig incident seemed to make he feel better about at the time.Jimmy Carter struck me as a relief when he came along – a reguar guy in many and less of the political hack.
All of our Presidents have found favor in my eyes tosome degree,excpt one and my reasons for excluding Bill Clinton are vague and uncertain. For some reason, I have never quite seemed see him as being as being "presidential". He semed to be less and less worthy the more he tried to do the job. His obvious moral depravity was unforgiveble. If John Kerry becomes President, Bill Clinton will have company on the short side of my list.
A.L.M. April 10, 2004 [c601wds[
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